Lead time on complete custom rifle build

[Ironworker]

Are all gunsmiths swamped with work now ? I've provided all the parts ,is there an average lead time I can expect for a complete build ?

 

[butchlambert]

How long is a string? The good ones are behind and some don't have a good work ethic.

 

[LA50SHOOTER]

Are all gunsmiths swamped with work now ? I've provided all the parts ,is there an average lead time I can expect for a complete build ?

That is something that diserves to be discussed (Lead Time) before parts are sent. - I've had projects turned around and completed by the gunsmith in as little as 10-14 days, and others that took 9-10 months. - And I've had one told me he'd have my spot available in 6 months, so I sent the parts to him in 6 months and it sat for another 6 months and nothing got done. - I ended up "eating" the shipping costs (both ways) and getting nothing done & I paid several thousand dollars (which he refunded) in advance as well.
- This is why I state " That is something that diserves to be discussed (Lead Time) before parts are sent." - As well, I find that it takes patience and some understanding because inevetably schedules seem to slide because they are busy and "stuff happens in life". - Most good business folks try to meet their comited delivery date & if something happens they contact the customer & let them know what happened & the affect on the schedule.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

I’ve never had issues with the two guys I work with for barreling actions. And I don’t look for new smiths. I stick with who treats me right and gets things done. They both will give me an estimated completion date and always have it done before that time. My taxidermist is the same way. He always tells me a year to get something done when I take it in, then I have it back in 6-8 months so I’m always a happy camper. His prices are a bit steeper than other taxidermists but he always gets it done ahead of schedule because the guy works his tail off. And that’s not luck, that’s the business owner being smart. Always tell a person a lead time that is longer than what you absolutely know you can actually get it done. Then when they get their stuff back early, they are tickled pink

I hate it when people say a time and can’t follow thru within a reasonable window, but things do happen and in that case I would totally agree that a person give a courtesy call to the customer “before” the expected completion date arrives.

 

[INTJ]

Most good gunsmiths always have a 6-12 month lead time. It's been that way for decades. There just isn't a lot of money to be made in gunsmithing so many either need a day job or are retired from a day job. The guy with the day job has limited time, the retired guy is only going to work at a pace that he enjoys.

That is why I now have my own lathe and mill. And if you do what I did and start building your own rifles, you will appreciate good gunsmiths even more and wonder how they make any money.

 

[Edd]

Are all gunsmiths swamped with work now ? I've provided all the parts ,is there an average lead time I can expect for a complete build ?

If you are in a rush to have one built, you might contact Chad @ Long Rifles Inc about building it. There have been instances where people have stopped by his shop with their parts and had a rifle built while they waited.

 

[liljoe]

One other thing I heard from one of the top smiths is about you supplied all the parts. He mentioned that he made NO money from them. He said guys would show up at his shop and dump off a bunch of parts and expect him to drop everything he was doing on other customers jobs that have probably been waiting for 6 to 12 months and build their stuff right away. You could see he didn't like it.
This is why I own a lathe and do my own.
Joe

 

[Walt Krafft]

Not only does he not make any money on the parts, if they do not go together as they should because of what you ordered, who pays for him to fix it?

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Most good gunsmiths always have a 6-12 month lead time. It's been that way for decades. There just isn't a lot of money to be made in gunsmithing so many either need a day job or are retired from a day job. The guy with the day job has limited time, the retired guy is only going to work at a pace that he enjoys.

That is why I now have my own lathe and mill. And if you do what I did and start building your own rifles, you will appreciate good gunsmiths even more and wonder how they make any money.

Agreed. Especially hard for a person to understand the time and effort it takes to do a lot of different things with stock work if they have never done it themselves. If a gunsmith accounted for every minute with an hourly rate for stock work on a rifle (doing a good clean job correctly), most customers would lose their mind when they got the bill

 

[moondog]

I almost always ask when he can chamber it. He's had a couple of barrels i sent him for a few months. He gives me an estimated date for chambering, I send it off. Usually pretty quick. But again, I don't wait till it won't shoot anymore. Also, once he chambers one up on a new action,he takes measurements and only needs a barrel from then on.

 

[Ironworker]

Well I asked current gunsmith if I could make an appointment on his lath ,he said I'm clearing out rifles and thinks all be surprised at how soon it gets out. Well spoke to his partner ,he said "Complete rifle builds take a while" So I haver a 2nd gunsmith that says he can do complete it before the election ? Is it rude/unethical of me to pick up parts from 1st gunsmith and take them to 2nd gunsmith ?

 

[X Ring Accuracy]

Its like other things in life.
Cheap, fast, and good. You can only pick 2.

 

[swd]

Well I asked current gunsmith if I could make an appointment on his lath ,he said I'm clearing out rifles and thinks all be surprised at how soon it gets out. Well spoke to his partner ,he said "Complete rifle builds take a while" So I haver a 2nd gunsmith that says he can do complete it before the election ? Is it rude/unethical of me to pick up parts from 1st gunsmith and take them to 2nd gunsmith ?

If you supplied them no, if he supplied them yes

 

[JTEX]

Its like other things in life.
Cheap, fast, and good. You can only pick 2.

I don't think a single person on this thread has said anything about price.......

 

[nicholst55]

Be glad that gunsmiths don't bill you like a lawyer does. They bill in 10-minute increments. Ask a question? Ten minutes. A 30-second phone call? Ten minutes. Read a document? Ten minutes. You get the idea.

 

[jackieschmidt]

This is not solely in the relm of Gunsmiths. When I had the 540 inch engine for my Chevelle built by the WOP Shop in Houston, their delivery time was 4 months, and that was with me offering at paying everything up front.

In my business, (Marine Machine Shop), we do not have the luxury of telling customers no.

What we strive for is to give the finest work in realistic delivery times at a fair price.

The worst thing you can do is give a unrealistic delivery time and then start coming up with excuses, Our Customer Base is very real time oriented. It all comes down to down time and lost revenue. They like what you have done in the past, and look forward to a future business relationship.

But today, what they are interested in is the job you are doing now.

 

[Kurz]

What we strive for is to give the finest work in realistic delivery times at a fair price.

The worst thing you can do is give a unrealistic delivery time and then start coming up with excuses, Our Customer Base is very real time oriented. It all comes down to down time and lost revenue. They like what you have done in the past, and look forward to a future business relationship.

This makes an excellent point of the difference between work which HAS to done and costs money as opposed to work which is strictly a luxury.

The person buying a rifle does NOT have to have that rifle. He or she may want it or have some date with a competition but it doesn't figure into their earnings or retirement.

Big difference.

Now though, there are lots of exceptions to any rule which is applied to any form of employment or earnings. So most of this discussion is general in nature with lots of specific complaints.

 

[butchlambert]

This makes an excellent point of the difference between work which HAS to done and costs money as opposed to work which is strictly a luxury.

The person buying a rifle does NOT have to have that rifle. He or she may want it or have some date with a competition but it doesn't figure into their earnings or retirement.

Big difference.

Now though, there are lots of exceptions to any rule which is applied to any form of employment or earnings. So most of this discussion is general in nature with lots of specific complaints.

I can't agree with you.

 

[RJ]

I think one of the issues in our business is we are living in a "Want it right now society" Clients are more often supplying all or some the components to build the Rifle without consulting the Riflesmith thinking this will help us . Many times they don't make the best choices. " I read on the internet" is the usual explanation. They then drive out to your shop to dump the parts and expect you stop want you're doing and build it. Not even realizing or even asking if there were other builds ahead of his, Builds that you committed to months before he came in.

As mentioned in this thread, Most good Riflesmiths keep a backlog of builds. Couple that with waiting for barrels, Actions, Bolts, Stocks, custom reamers, etc... sets the build back. And then there may be returns for components that are not as they should be after inspection. Another setback. Basically, the client doesn't understand all the things the Riflesmith has to deal with to complete the build.

There are some very talented Riflesmiths I personally know on this board. Most are one man operations. None of us are getting rich building Rifles. Most of us can make more money doing something else with far less skills involved. The purpose of this post is to educate some of the guys having rifles built.
Give the Riflesmith the time he needs to build it. He'll call you when its completed. When you get your new Rifle and shoot it you'll forget about the time it took to build.

Richard Hilts
Hilts Accuracy Custom Rifles
www.hiltscustomrifles.com

 

[ridgeway]

Years back, I called a gunsmith that is very well known to ask a simple question regarding adding weight to my firing pin. I started asking the question and he said he was too busy and hung up on me...this was like a 5-10 second conversation. I was like that arrogant b***. Every time his name comes up, I tell this story, lol.

Anyhow, there is nothing that he can do that I can't, so rise above and do what you feel you need to do